This paper introduces readers to the sociopolitical context within Colombia and provides examples of the use of narrative therapy and collective narrative practice with survivors of torture. In particular, this paper focuses on responding to women who have been subjected to sexual violence in the context of organised political violence. Detailed accounts of work with a mother and her two daughters, and a group of women survivors, are offered.

This paper tells the stories of two girls from Hong Kong, one of whom was Nancy who shared the story of her late grandfather and how remembering their relationship continued to affect her life. Amy, who as a child lived at foster care, talked about the significant people in her life through a re-membering project. The application of the remembering practice was shared and discussed through these two unique stories and its implication for Chinese grief work.

The author describes her exploration of practices working with the absent but implicit, particularly in therapy with couples and families. She includes questions that may be helpful in naming the absent but implicit and describes how these conversations can support a context in which exploring discourses that support problems becomes especially relevant.

This paper will focus on my endeavour to ‘open up’ the counselling room by initiating a conversation between two young women I was meeting with for individual counselling. The conversation that commenced between these two young women took the form of letters that were constructed from transcripts of our recorded conversations. I will discuss some of the ideas that underpinned and motivated this exchange, as well as reflect on some of the key considerations involved within the process. I will finish by trying to demonstrate some of the flow of conversation that made it possible for new understandings, preferred identities and shared contributions to be generated.

This article describes conversations that Amanda had with a woman called June, whose life had been affected by a condition called ‘schizoaffective disorder’. When Amanda first met with June, June was in good health but paranoia was influencing her life in a way that wasn’t acceptable to her. This article describes how Amanda and June invited paranoia to come to the table, to explore how June could reclaim her life and move forward in a preferred direction.

This paper begins by defining critical thinking and setting out a personal history of the author’s journey toward becoming a critical thinker. It considers two common barriers to critical thinking: cultural disapproval of critique; and confusing critical thinking with criticism. In response, it argues that rigorous thinking offers benefits—and not only risks— to cultures as well as individuals. It considers where cultural resources supportive of critique might be found. Further, it argues that critical analysis should be understood (and undertaken) as a process of collaborative support for rigorous thinking rather than as a form of hostile criticism. Some dimensions of critical thinking are outlined, together with questions which might allow readers to apply them to specific contexts. The paper closes with some reflections on the process of writing in which some of these dimensions of critical thinking are applied to the paper itself.

The idea of sharing stories so people can be more political with them is not a new idea to narrative therapy. However, as far as we are aware, there is very little research or documentation in the counselling literature that has asked groups of people their opinion about sharing their stories outside of the counselling arena for individual and broader collective good. In many instances, the constructs of ‘confidentiality’ and ‘disclosure’ can be referred to in rather fixed terms, and as non-negotiable entities. This paper outlines the development of forums and interviews with 62 young people in our respective counselling contexts – two co-educational high schools in Melbourne, Australia, to provide us with an indication of how the young people we consult with may feel about ‘confidentiality’ when viewed alongside their right to be supported in sharing their stories.

How do we discuss sex issues in therapy with a narrative and post-structuralist, postcolonial approach? This paper discusses the ethics and practices of narrative approaches to talking about sex in therapy. It discusses ways to reduce the influence of shame and embarrassment, promote local knowledge and skills, and to minimise the impact of the gender and sexuality of the therapist.

Exploring the relationship between literary ideas, particularly as they pertain to personal storytelling, and narrative therapy, this paper describes a writing and spoken word story project that took place at a California high school. The high school participants had all experienced significant losses and this project explored and honoured the legacies of these lost loved ones.

In the past decade, home-based family therapy has become an increasingly popular approach and alternative to residential treatment for substance abuse, addictions, and many psycho-socially related issues. This paper discusses a therapist’s experience in homebased family therapy while working with a teenager severely affected by the impact of substance abuse and life struggles. The therapeutic techniques illustrated are a direct result of the therapist’s interest in narrative approaches to therapy.

Inspired by the narrative folk cultural methodologies of the Tree of life, Team of Life, and Kite of Life, caterer and narrative practitioner, Natale Rudland Wood, offers here a narrative way of working based on food metaphors and recipes for life.

The Kirkuk Center for Torture Victims is a human rights organisation assisting victims of torture, persecution and violence in Iraq. We believe in a democratic society where the dignity of the human person is respected, where adults and children enjoy the right to life and liberty, and where citizens are free from torture and terror.

Dulwich Centre Foundation International (DCFI) is an Australian-based organisation that responds to groups and communities who are enduring significant hardships, co-develops culturally-appropriate and resonant methodologies to respond to community mental health issues and collective suffering, and works in partnership to build the capacity of local workers.

In November 2011 and September 2012, David Denborough from DCFI conducted workshops for the counsellors of the Kirkuk Center for Torture Victims. This publication describes a number of the narrative methodologies that were discussed in these workshops – The Tree of Life, The Team of Life, and the use of letters, documents, poems and certificates. It also includes stories from local workers about the survival skills and knowledge of Kurdish families.`

I wrote this keynote speech for Dulwich Centre’s July 2011, International Narrative Therapy and Community Work Conference in Salvador, Brazil. The purpose of the talk was to convey a critique on individualism and its plague on therapeutic thinking and practice. As a response to individualism, I offered up the communalising relational practice of therapeutic letter writing campaigns. The talk was also a place where I sought to publicly appreciate my longstanding apprenticeship with David Epston and Michael White. I then tied these narrative ideas together with my early growing up experiences inside an immigrant Irish family who worked tirelessly with the poor and dispossessed and who never once found cause to pathologise anyone.

Collective narrative practice facilitates geographically separated groups of people to share their experience and wisdom in standing up to common problems. This article documents a particular collective narrative practice between a group of youth in prison at Burnaby Youth Custody Services and a group of youth in treatment for substance misuse at Peak House in Vancouver, Canada. The purpose of outlining this exchange of solution knowledges is to highlight certain practical and theoretical aspects of collective practices that were effective for the youth, in order to continue the narrative discussion for future practitioners. By assuming the youth had healing knowledges, by providing them with a relevant audience, and by offering them the opportunity to make a meaningful contribution to others; this writer was able to facilitate young people in sharing their own solutions with each other in mutual encouragement against a common social issue. Exchanging collective narrative documents with other youth seemed to cultivate a sense of self-determination towards therapeutic work, a feeling of solidarity and belonging with similar strugglers, and a sense of hope and enthusiasm that change is indeed possible.

Could narrative inquiry enliven strengths-based practice through returning stories to strengths? This paper tells the story of the composition of ‘narrative of strengths’ interviews and their use with students, within a research project utilising the Clifton Strengthsfinder at Unitec, New Zealand. It moves on to explore possible seeds of connection between strengths-based and narrative practice, taking the paradigm of life as story and the reclaiming of the territory of the past as starting points for this inquiry.

This paper describes how the Team of Life narrative methodology can make it possible for young men to speak about what is important to them, what they have protected, held onto, despite the hardships they have seen. This way of working also makes it possible for young men to speak about identity in a collective manner, to celebrate ‘goals’ that their ‘teams’ have already scored, and to make plans and preparations for the future. This way of working utilises sporting metaphors which are powerfully resonant within masculine culture and yet, significantly, provides possibilities for supporting and acknowledging alternative masculinities.

2,021 Comments

Jocelyn Phelps - September 14, 2019

Thank you to Tileah for a wonderful presentation. I love hearing the word “yarn” used in this powerful way (Americans also have that term). The practice of “translating”, of shifting concepts into language that can be more usefully heard, is very powerful. As coaches we can make good use of this to help clients uncover their hidden or forgotten resources.

These stories are amazing examples of what we can discover when we hold onto our “beginner’s mind” and remember that the other person (client, patient) has the information and understanding, not us. We talk a lot in leadership development about “co-creating” and I think this is a beautiful example of two very complementary roles: the person who has the story and the person who helps to explore and shape it.

I like the idea of narrative – there is something about giving people the power to create a narrative, rather than simply appearing in a story told by someone else. Within the narrative metaphor, I especially enjoy the fabric metaphor – the idea of strands. These may touch each other, or not, may go well together in tone or color, or not. But again, there is some power in creating and weaving the narrative.
In my own work with coaching and leadership development, I find that the emphasis on narrative(s) helps make things more tangible, and therefore brings them to their true scale, instead of letting them take on imaginary and unclearly described proportions.

I love this. Telling our stories in ways that make us stronger. Such a powerful sentiment. Sometimes through trauma, it is hard to access the words that really encapsulate that experience – though using the written word does help us access those hard to utter parts of our memories … in those cases though perhaps the story we tell ourselves is not one that makes us feel strong in the first instance – so finding a way to tell that story in a way that focuses on the strength of surviving to tell that story is just amazing!

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Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the Kaurna people who are the Traditional Custodians of the Land on which Dulwich Centre stands. We would also like to pay respect to the Elders of the Kaurna Nation, both past and present, and extend that respect to other Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders.